Fever Dreams (Sequel to 'Lost Paladins')
by Rangergirl3
Summary: Allura and Coran have rescued the Paladins, but one of them is still in danger. Fun fact: While writing this story, the author actually gave herself nightmares. Second in the 'Lost Paladins' series.
1. Back Home

Shiro knew he'd been brought out of the mind meld, but he couldn't muster the energy to raise his head - he couldn't even keep his eyes open. He was just so tired, and his side hurt. The hot agony had dulled to a constant, steady throbbing. He wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not.

He was just so tired…and there were sounds around him, but his brain felt sluggish. He couldn't link the sounds together to understand what was going on.

The last coherent thought that he remembered thinking was _I hope she wasn't listening to us…_

Then everything faded to a deep, deep black. It was almost a relief, after the relentless pain and fear.

After a time, he felt something prick the skin of his flesh arm. _A needle._ A year's worth of Haggar's experiments came rushing back to the surface of his mind, and he forced his eyes open, trying to see where he was, feeling his breath start to come faster, his heartbeat loud in his own ears.

Someone was bending over him, face pale and concentrating, and they were adjusting - it felt like an IV - in his flesh arm. Shiro tried to wrench away from the figure, feeling his chest constrict in panic, but the figure placed a hand onto his shoulder, speaking calmly.

"It's all right, you're safe, Shiro, we've got you," it said. "We have you in a shuttle, and all the others are following in their Lions. Black is with them."

It took Shiro a few seconds to recognize the voice, and suddenly he realized where he was. He was in one of the Altean shuttles, and he could feel the hum and whir of the engines thrumming through the deck. Coran was the one treating him - and he could hear Allura's voice coming from the front of the shuttle, giving out short instructions to the other Paladins over the comms.

They were free. They had escaped the Galra.

"Coran - " he started to ask, but broke off with a hiss. His side. His side felt - well, it felt like a witch had just viciously reopened his partly closed wounds. But he had to ask, he had to know. "Haggar-" he managed to say between clenched teeth. "She - did - something - "

Coran's face showed sympathy, and another emotion Shiro had trouble placing. He patted Shiro's shoulder gently. "She reopened your original injuries - twice," he said. "Once when you warned us about the trap, and again - after - after you stood up to her. We heard it over the audio feed we'd tapped so we could trace your location."

Coran shuddered slightly. "Based on what Pidge told Allura when they were bandaging you up, you're going to need stitches and an anti-toxin when we get back to the castle. We won't be certain until we test your wounds back at the castle, but we think Haggar's claws might have been poisoned. For now, we have you connected to a plasma replacement machine. It will help start to replace the blood you lost, as well as preparing your body for the anti-toxin treatment. It should also keep you from going into shock. It's a bit of a dated machine - you'll need more than just one session - but it should do the trick."

Shiro felt his side begin to ache again, and he couldn't hold back another tight gasp of pain. He saw the sudden, deeper worry in Coran's eyes and tried to brush it off. "It's - okay," he said, trying to regulate his breathing, to brace himself against the pain. "It's - felt - worse."

Coran's expression flickered, and he turned quickly away, grabbing for a kit that was in a nearby compartment. "I think I can help with that," he said over his shoulder as he rummaged through the box. "Just a tick - and - aha! A pain relief patch!"

He turned around again, and with a gentle but efficient action, he pulled Shiro's shirt to one side so he could place the patch as close to the wounds as possible. Shiro had let his head fall back onto the stretcher, but at the tug of the fabric, his head jerked upright.

"Coran-wait-" he hissed, and his face had gone a different shade of white. Coran's fingers froze, and he let out a hiss of something that was too quiet for Shiro to make out. The Altean was staring at the scar above his wound. It was a pattern of letters and characters that had been burned onto Shiro's side, directly beneath what would have been the stump of his right arm. It read, 'Property of the Galra Empire' in the Galran language, and there were numbers underneath. It was a brand, at least several months old.

Shiro had to look away from Coran. The Altean courtier was staring at his side with a mix of horror, anger, and revulsion on his normally cheerful countenance.

Shiro couldn't blame him. It wasn't the nicest thing to have branded onto your skin.

"Don't tell the others," he said. "It - it's not - something I want them to see."

Coran visibly made an effort to contain himself, placing the pain relief patch onto Shiro's side as best he could before lowering the shirt again. Then he surprised Shiro by what he said next.

"Shiro," he said quietly, and his voice was very still and serious. It sounded like a formal oath. "I will not rest until that witch is dead. You have my word."

Shiro looked back up at Coran in startled surprise. "Coran - it's not like I was special - I think all the gladiators had it done to them-"

Coran shook his head, the gesture silencing Shiro. "It doesn't matter," he said. "She hurt you. I'm just sorry it took me this long to realize how much."

Shiro heard the familiar hiss of the hanger's outer doors cycling open, then shutting again after they were inside the hanger. As the hum and hiss of the shuttle's landing gears died away, Coran gave him a brief smile, and said, low enough for only Shiro to hear, "I won't tell the others, I promise."

Shiro managed to give Coran a nod of thanks. Then he heard Allura open the shuttle's doors and then her footsteps, hastening towards the main bridge. "She's going to open a wormhole," Coran told him. "We think that if we do it a certain way, we have a good chance of staying out of the Galrans' reach for awhile."

After a few moments, Allura returned, sweating and slightly out of breath, but smiling in triumph. "It worked," she said. "We're clear." Even as she spoke, she hurried over to Shiro's side, saw that he was awake, and immediately tried to ask him how he was, if anything hurt, and if she could help make him more comfortable - all in the same breath. Shiro opened his mouth, unsure of how to answer all her questions at once, but Coran patted him on the shoulder again, to let him know he could help. Shiro decided to let Coran take this one. He was starting to feel tired again, anyway.

"Allura, I think we should get him to a proper bed," Coran said. "Once we get him settled in a room in the infirmary, we can make sure he has everything he needs. But now that the plasma replacement machine has almost finished its first cycle, we can disinfect and properly seal the wound. We can move him after that."

"Right, of course," Allura said, and she went to a nearby compartment and searched for what she'd need. "I agree, we should do that here," she said as she brought the necessary materials to where Shiro lay. "I don't want that wound to become infected, or open up any more than it already has."

Shiro managed a half-smile at her as she began to work on taking off the old bandages. "Yeah - that wouldn't be good," he said. The pain relief patch Coran had applied was starting to work, and it was incredible how much it helped. He felt his muscles begin to relax, and he allowed his head to drop back onto the stretcher.

"Coran, can you help me, please?" Allura asked, and then Coran was talking to him.

"All right, Shiro, I'm just going to cut away part of your shirt so we can disinfect and bandage that wound of yours," he said, giving Shiro a slight wink of conspiracy. _Don't worry,_ it said. _I'll make sure she doesn't see the brand._

Even though he had felt slightly foolish for worrying about whether or not Allura would see his scar, Shiro felt better once he realized that Coran intended to do everything in his power to help. It was a small thing, but it mattered.

He closed his eyes as they began to disinfect the wound. It wasn't the most fun he'd ever had, but the pain relief patch Coran had placed on his side helped to drown out the worst of the discomfort. While they worked, he pictured the faces of the people he knew. It helped him to focus on something other than the pain.

Keith. Lance. Hunk. Pidge. Coran. Allura. Matt. Sam.

There were others, but they were always the first ones that came to mind.

Coran and Allura finished their work quickly, and by the time Shiro remembered to open his eyes again, he was in what looked like a hospital room, lying on his back on a bed in the center of the room, and Allura and Coran were both nearby, speaking in quiet tones.

He must be in one of the infirmary's rooms - a pretty large one, by the look of it.

Allura was saying something as she prepared the - what had she called it earlier - the anti-toxin - and Coran was telling her the other Paladins were all safe and sound, and that the castle was well out of Galra scanner range.

They'd made it, then.

Shiro raised his left hand, pressed it against his bandaged side, and realized that they'd already stitched his wounds shut. The pain relief patch had also been removed. It probably only worked for a certain amount of time, or could only suppress a certain amount of pain. Well, at least it had gotten him through the stitches. That was a relief.

"I wish we could keep him on a constant dose of the pain relief medicine," Allura said, and her voice was regretful, "but if there are too many medicines at work in his system at once, the risk of complications rises. The anti-toxin I'm giving him now is quite potent, and he'll need at least two or three more sessions on the plasma replacement machine. We'll have to keep that - what did he say it looked like, Coran?"

"An eye-vee, Princess."

"We'll have to keep that in his arm, so we can keep replacing the plasma while he sleeps. The anti-toxin medication alone will put him into a deep sleep, and between those medicines, I think it's best we don't add anything else unless we absolutely have to."

"But we could keep some pain relief patches on hand," Coran said. "In case we need them."

"Yes, of course," Allura said. "But I don't think we will need them - I think he'll be all right."

She saw that Shiro had opened his eyes again and hurried over to his side. "Shiro," she said, "Shiro, how are you feeling?"

"I'm - all right," he said. "Better than when I woke up on the shuttle, that's for sure."

He looked around, trying to remember the last few moments of consciousness he'd had on the Galran ship. Something - something important - he still - he still had to do something - important -

Keith. Keith still thought he'd baited the witch into torturing Shiro.

"I - I need to see Keith," Shiro said. "Before you give me the anti-toxin - before I go to sleep."

Coran nodded. "What about the other Paladins? Do you want to see them too?"

Shiro said he wished he could see them all, but he that he _had_ to see Keith. He started to explain why, but Coran nodded in understanding. "We tracked your location on the Galra ship through a one-way audio feed, remember?" he said gently. "We'll make sure he sees you before we give you the anti-toxin."

Shiro nodded, feeling his eyelids flicker with the effort of staying awake. Since he was this tired, he probably wouldn't be able to see any of others before he fell asleep. Still, he _had_ to tell Keith it wasn't his fault.

He heard the door that lead into the infirmary room slide open, and someone came in. Even before Allura greeted the newcomer, Shiro recognized Keith's footsteps. He opened his eyes as his old friend approached the bed.

As he spoke to Keith, he felt a genuine smile cross his face for what felt like the first time in days. When Keith referenced the show he and Shiro had seen the first weekend as roommates at the Garrison, he almost snorted with laughter.

That show had been fantastic. Only had the one season, but it was timeless all the same.

Shiro wanted to respond with a line from the same show, but he couldn't think of the right one in time. So instead, he settled for flinging his good arm up in an expression of good-natured exasperation at Keith's concern, but he and Keith were both grinning like idiots, so it was okay.

Allura bustled Coran and Keith out of the room. Then she closed the door, glancing over at Shiro with a half-smile on her face.

"Keith knows you well, doesn't he," she asked. Shiro looked over at her. She seemed to have enough energy to power the sun, she was in such a good mood.

"Yeah," he said. "We were good friends when I was at the Garrison." He paused for a minute, his brow furrowing in concentration. "Though sometimes it seems like it was ages ago…" For a moment, his eyes clouded with painful memories, then he shook his head and looked back at Allura. She had crossed to the other side of the room, where the medicine cabinet was kept.

"Anyway, what's this anti-toxin going to do again?" he asked, trying to distract himself from remembering anything remotely Druid related. Those particular memories always came to mind when he was tired, and he decided to take note of his room, to help distract himself.

He looked around at his surroundings, realizing the bed he was on was a lot like a normal hospital bed, except that instead of giant bedrails that rose up on either side, there was a single bar along either side of the bed, low and close to the cot, just a few inches away from his body.

Craning his neck, he saw a similar bar at his feet, and another one at his head. Maybe it was in case of an emergency evacuation. The bars looked strong enough to support the weight of whoever was on the bed, and allow up to four - well, maybe even six, if two took each side - people to grab the bars and keep the patient steady during transportation. You had to give credit where credit was due - the Alteans prized both efficiency and simplicity, and this hospital 'cot' was just one example of it.

He tried to remember what she'd said earlier, when Keith came into the room. "You said something like - it'll put me to sleep for two days?"

Allura nodded, even though she still had her back to him. "Yes," she said over her shoulder, focused on preparing the medicine. "We'd place you in a healing pod right away, but it seems this toxin on the witch's claws was created to conflict with our usual Altean healing methods. We have to neutralize it in your system first, and _then_ we can put you in a healing pod."

She turned around, a syringe in her right hand, smiling brightly. "Nothing to worry about, just a short time for this medicine to fight the toxin in your blood, and you'll be right as -"

She stopped, uncertainty suddenly showing in her eyes. "Shiro…" she said, putting down the syringe on a nearby tray and taking a few quick, anxious steps towards him. "Shiro, you've gone pale. Are you all right?"

Shiro swallowed. His eyes seemed - scared, and the little color he'd regained from the first plasma replacement unit had vanished. "I-I'm - fine," he said quickly. "I just - I just don't like - needles. Or - um - sleeping - really-"

She stopped dead in her tracks, realizing her mistake. She felt her face heat up with shame, embarrassment, and no small degree of guilt.

Of course Shiro would hate those things. He'd told her as much, the night they'd met in the kitchen and talked for hours. How foolish of her to startle him so, especially _now,_ so soon after another hellish encounter with Haggar.

She'd just been so glad to get him back - and then so relieved to see him awaken after they'd found him so still and pale - and _then_ so focused on fixing the problem in front of her, that she'd forgotten.

Thoughtless. She'd been thoughtless.

She took a deep breath in, let it out, and slowly came to stand by his bed, reaching out to put one hand reassuringly on his shoulder - careful to avoid disturbing the tubing that connected to the plasma replacement machine - and clasped his flesh hand with the other.

"Shiro, I'm sorry," she said gently. "I am _so_ sorry. I was so focused on getting you better, I didn't even think about-"

"It's - it's not you -" Shiro said, a little too quickly. "I - honestly, it shouldn't -"

Allura shook her head, just once, but vigorously. "No, don't apologize. It's a perfectly natural reaction, given your past experiences."

Shiro swallowed again, but at least color had come back to his face. He even managed a partial smile this time. "Well, at least I know _you're_ not out to poison me."

She felt her heart constrict in pain. Given Haggar's hatred of anything kind and good, that might not be just a random joke. Come to think of it, it was entirely possible Haggar had tried all sorts of things on Shiro during her experiments.

Well, she could fantasize about turning Haggar into dust later. Right now, she needed to reassure Shiro, and make sure he knew he was safe here.

She touched the side of his face gently, her other hand still holding his flesh one. "You are very dear to me, Shiro." she said. Something constricted her throat, and she had to clear it before continuing. "I would never, _ever_ do anything to hurt you. Please forgive me for my thoughtlessness."

Shiro smiled up at her now, and his flesh hand pressed hers, once, reassuringly.

He was so kind and understanding. It was clear to Allura why he made such a good leader.

"It's fine," he said. "You're just trying to help." He took a deep breath, released her hand, and nodded, setting his jaw in that determined way he had. "Okay. Let's do this."

She nodded back, deciding that the best thing she could do now was to be both gentle and swift. She efficiently cleaned the area of skin where the injection would take place, humming a gentle, calming melody she remembered her mother using whenever she had bandaged a certain princess' scraped knee or bleeding elbow.

Then, still humming, she went back to the tray where she had left the syringe and picked it up as quietly as she could. She glanced back over her shoulder, and saw that he had closed his eyes and was muttering something under his breath.

Still humming so that he would know where she was, she came back to stand by him. As she did, she could hear what he was saying. It sounded like a list of names. She recognized some of them. Her own, Coran, Keith, and the others, along with some she did not recognize. His own distraction, then. It suited him.

She stroked his wrist reassuringly before adjusting his flesh arm so she could better reach the necessary vein. He squeezed his eyes tight shut, his body tensing, and she hummed the tune just a little softer as quickly, quietly, she inserted the needle into his arm, injected the medicine, and then withdrew the needle and dropped the now-empty syringe into a nearby waste basket.

Then she quickly bandaged the site, making sure she didn't stop humming. Once she had tied off the simple bandage, she softly ended the song. She sat down on the very edge of the bed and touched the side of his face with one hand, letting the other gently grip his flesh hand again.

"You did really well," she said, as softly as she could. "You did really well, Shiro. It's done now."

He opened his eyes, looked up at her, and managed another smile. "I'm glad," he said. "But - Allura - I think - "

She saw him hesitate for a moment before he continued. "I think - it might be a good idea - to - to restrain me while I'm asleep. Or at least my cybernetic arm."

He saw her blink, confusion on her face for only an instant before it was replaced by dismay. "But - Shiro - the medicine will put you into a deep enough sleep where you won't dream at all -"

"It's just a precaution," he insisted. "But - look, if I do have a dream…just…trust me when I say you don't want me to sleepwalk."

She didn't laugh. It wasn't funny.

"I don't - I don't want to," she said. "You're going to be fine-"

"Allura," he said, feeling his awareness begin to flicker again, the medicine taking swift effect, "Please, trust me. It's not worth the risk."

She hesitated, but must have seen how important it was to him, that he not be a danger to anyone.

"All right," she said. "I'll take care of it."

She saw his head nod forward onto his chest, could tell that his eyelids were growing heavier. Instinctively, she leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead.

"Sleep, Shiro," she said, as softly as she could. She squeezed his hand one more time, stroking the side of his face with the tips of her fingers as his head fell back onto the pillow. "It'll be all right. I'm here. It's safe."

His face relaxed, his eyes closed, and he felt his mind drift away.

It was safe to sleep now. She was here.


	2. Rest

For several minutes, she remained sitting on the edge of the bed, just watching him sleep. It was strange, not to see him aware and alert. But he'd been on watch long enough. It was her turn to help him.

Eventually, she stood up carefully and quietly. Now to keep her promise.

She found what she needed in a nearby storage compartment, and secured his cybernetic wrist to the cot's right sidebar with one of the same energy-based handcuffs that Coran had used to instigate the 'Great Food-Fight of Unity'. He'd begun calling it that soon after the event. The memory of the food goo flying everywhere still made her smile.

Quietly, she tiptoed out of Shiro's room and pressed her palm against the controls so that the door silently slid shut behind her. She could still see him perfectly well, because the door had been constructed with the top half completely transparent. The idea had been based on the theory that too much noise and bustle in the infirmary's hallways would prevent anyone in their rooms from being able to sleep, but that supervising physicians should be able to monitor a patient's condition through both sight and technology.

Sensors set into the bed's sides relayed the patient's detailed medical information to a special tablet above the door controls outside the room. That tablet would then electronically monitor the patient's condition while the door offered a direct line of sight. If needed, the tablet could be taken down and brought into the room, but its' mounting outside the door also gave a less-intrusive option for observation. This way, she could watch him from only a few feet away and respond to any hint of trouble, while giving him some much-needed peace and quiet.

Something beeped near her ear, and she jumped before realizing it was the castle's intercom. Someone was calling the infirmary hall's number from the kitchen. She pressed the button for 'Receive', and was met with a loud "PRINCESS, THE PALADINS HAVE ME SURROUNDED!" followed by a loud 'glug' as something soft and goopy (presumably) smacked into Coran's face and/or the kitchen's intercom. She sighed, feeling a smile cross her face.

Thank goodness she had closed the room's door. Even with the anti-toxin's soporific effect, the sounds from the intercom might have awakened Shiro. Still, it sounded like they were having a lot of fun in the kitchen.

"Let me guess," she said. "You instigated the second 'Great Food-Fight of Unity', and now you need reinforcements."

"EXACTLY!" Coran answered. "Well - actually - it was Lance and Hunk's idea - apparently everyone just went with it - AAAAAAHHHH NO! NOT THE GREEN GOOP! NOOOO!"

Another wet, thudding sound followed, and she heard the other Paladins laughing uproariously.

"COME ON DOWN, ALLURA!" she heard Pidge shout. "WE CAN TAKE ON THE BOYS TOGETHER!"

"NOOOO!" Coran shouted, and Allura smiled again at the sheer joy in her old friend's voice, underneath the affected panic of being the only Altean against four Paladins. "PRINCESS, YOU CAN'T BETRAY ME LIKE THIS!"

She laughed then, a hearty, shoulder-shaking laugh, and it felt so good to be able to laugh like that again.

"Another time, perhaps," she said, her laughter and smile coloring her refusal, making it come across as gentle and good-humored, rather than abrupt or cold. "I think I'll stay up here for now. But I am glad you are enjoying your food fight. Could I ask you all to listen for a moment, though? I have a request."

"Yes, Princess?" Coran asked. For a moment, the sounds of the food-fight died down.

"Once you finish, could you all please come up here?" she asked. "I'd like to make sure at least one of us is near Shiro until he wakes up. His vital signs are strong, and although he'll need more plasma replacement, that is something we can do without waking him…I just…want to be sure he isn't left alone."

There was a chorus of "Absolutely!" and "You got it!" and "Understood!" and, from Hunk, "You know, we've pretty much already beaten Coran, so we can head up there now-"

Allura smiled again, this time to herself. "Well, if you want to, you can come up now. There's no rush."

She raised her eyes to look at Shiro's sleeping form. She felt something warm and protective glow inside her heart. "I'll be here for awhile."

Once the other Paladins and Coran came to the corridor, about twenty minutes later, all of them dressed in their usual Earth clothes and Coran in a fresh new uniform, she informed them of Shiro's request.

They each reacted in their own way. Lance had an unhappy expression on his face, Hunk screwed up his eyes and looked down at the floor, Pidge sighed and adjusted her glasses, and Keith narrowed his eyes and looked in through the door, to where Shiro lay, quiet and peaceful. But Coran nodded.

"I can understand that," he said. "It was the smart thing to do."

"I didn't want to do it," Allura hastened to add, "but he made me promise."

Keith seemed to come back from his thoughts and looked at back at her, his face clearing of the frown. "We believe you," he said. "And we know it's the smart thing to do right now. We just - well, no one likes it."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Look, why don't we take it in pairs to keep an eye on him?" Lance suggested. "That way, we're able to keep each other company, as well as having an extra pair of hands ready if - you know - if -"

"-If he starts to have a nightmare," Keith finished. He made a face, as if swallowing something bitter, and then said, keeping his face neutral, his voice steady, "That's - that's a good idea - Lance."

Lance looked startled for a second by the compliment, but then he grinned.

"Keith, you look pretty exhausted, man. Why don't Hunk and I take this first watch? It'll give you and Pidge some time to rest."

Pidge looked as if she wanted to argue, but then she nodded. "You've…got a point, Lance." She elbowed Keith in the side, looking up at him through her glasses. "We're not as efficient when we're tired."

Hunk nodded. "My thoughts exactly."

Allura smiled at them as she pointed out, " _All four_ of you are very tired. Why don't you all get some rest - Coran and I will take the first watch."

It was a testament to how exhausted the four Paladins were that they agreed to this idea without protest. However, none of them seemed keen to go to their rooms.

After a moment's foot shuffling and an awkward silence, Hunk blew out a breath and said, "Okay, I'm just gonna say it - I don't want to sleep alone." He raised his hand above his head. "Who's up for a sleepover in the lounge? It's right down the hall, so we can all get to Shiro's room in a hurry if we have to, and no one has to worry about missing out on anything."

Lance grinned, shoving his friend in the shoulder. "Look at you, all clever and creative, Hunk!"

"Yeah, I have my moments," Hunk said, a smile appearing on his face.

"A - sleep - over?" Allura said, questioningly.

"Oh, it's like, one of the best inventions girls ever came up with," Hunk said as he spread his hands out wide, as if showing her a giant map. "You bring all your cushions and blankets into one room - like, the lounge - and well, usually you don't sleep, you do things like - what, Pidge?"

Pidge snorted and adjusted her glasses again. "You're asking _me_?"

Lance chuckled, and finished explaining to Allura and Coran by saying, "Well, anyway, it's when a lot of people sleep in the same room, sometimes on the floor, sometimes on couches."

"But not on beds?" Coran asked, slightly puzzled.

"Well, the point is that it doesn't _have_ to be on beds," Lance said. "But I still think that sleepover idea is a great one, Hunk."

Keith gave a small sigh and unfolded his arms. "Just one thing before I agree to this - I don't want to end up with someone's foot in my face," he said. "Or an arm, or a knee, or a butt. No. Thank. You. I reserve the right to kick or punch anything within a foot of my body, no exceptions. Consider yourselves warned."

Lance laughed, already heading towards his room. "Come on, we'd have to be _trying_ to get that close to you - that lounge is - it's _huge_! It's like, five of my home's living rooms pushed together!" Keith rolled his eyes, but headed towards his room, presumably to gather the necessary items. Pidge and Hunk followed suit, and soon all of them were snoring together in the lounge.

Coran had insisted on making them each what they called 'space hot .' and Allura thought it was likely he'd added a small dash of a natural sleeping aide to each cup. He'd done the same for her after many a long day. It wasn't anything that would keep the Paladins asleep for longer than normal, but it helped their worn bodies to relax, and their minds to drift more easily into quiet, restful dreams.

Allura smiled as she peeked in and saw how Pidge's sleeping form was curled up close against one of Hunk's legs, the mice curled up together on top of her blankets. Lance and Hunk's backs were pressed together, and each was snoring gently.

Keith had taken up a position near the others, but still well out of easy touching range. Allura thought it was worth noting that he slept on his side, his back to his teammates, facing the door to the lounge, and Allura suddenly thought it might not be coincidence that he'd chosen that position.

He was guarding the entrance - no, that wasn't it.

Keith was guarding his team.

She exchanged looks with Coran.

"That…that is actually…" she started to say, but Coran finished the thought for her, " - incredibly sweet. Coming from Keith, that is," he added. "You know, I'm starting to think he's mostly bark - well, mostly very, _very_ grumpy bark - but no bite. That is, unless you threaten someone he cares about."

Allura glanced once more at the sleeping forms, and felt her shoulders finally relax, just a little bit. She could understand that sentiment. She'd felt a fire coursing through her veins these last few days, and it was only just starting to abate.

"Come on," she said, tiptoeing away from the door and down the hallway again. "I want to be closer to Shiro. If the alarms go off, I want to be right by him, ready to take action."

As they each took a seat across from Shiro's room, Coran glanced over at Allura.

"You did the right thing, securing his arm like that," he said softly. "You don't need to feel bad."

"I know," she said, her hands tightening in her lap. "I just -"

She paused, glanced over at him, and said, so low he almost didn't hear, "I just don't want him to feel like a prisoner when he wakes up."

Coran breathed in deeply. Ah.

He was just about to say something when the medical tablet above the door beeped out a warning cry.


	3. Trouble

Four hours.

That's how long it had taken for the Black Paladin to fall into a nightmare.

 _Stupid_ , Allura told herself as she leapt to her feet, feeling her stomach drop as she saw red warning script scroll across the medical tablet, _I was stupid to think this might not happen._

Coran was at the door before the first warbling alarm finished ringing, Allura right behind him, grabbing the tablet from its setting on her way in. She slid the door shut behind the two of them. The other Paladins probably hadn't heard the aborted alarm, and even if they had, right now, she and Coran had to work fast and without distractions.

Shiro was twitching, his eyelids flickering, his breaths starting to come in harsh, fast gasps, as if he were running from something. "Run," he said, and his heart rate started to climb. "Come on, _run_!"

She saw he'd begun to sweat, and the readings on her medical tablet were saying his body temperature was higher than it had been a moment before. She swallowed hard, suddenly, illogically worrying about the side effects of the anti-toxin she'd injected into his system earlier. It was supposed to work at tracking down and eliminating the poison, but it wasn't supposed to bring back flashbacks, or nightmares.

Had _she_ done this to him?

Shiro screamed then, a scared, lost sound, weak and short-lived. Then he groaned once, his breaths becoming slower, his eyes closed, face creased in distress.

Allura felt her stomach clench in panic, and she looked frantically over at Coran. He was busy, using a hand-held scanner over the injury to get more in-depth information on the injury, but then he looked over at her, and his face was serious.

"No, Princess," he said, "it's not an adverse reaction to the anti-toxin. We have records from the war - we used it on multiple species, and it doesn't look like it's adversely affecting him." His teeth bared in anger, and he continued. "It's the witch. I think her venom is - well, to put it simply - malicious. The anti-venom is neutralizing the poison just fine, but the damn stuff isn't going out with a fight. It seems to be attacking the fear center of his brain, and these nightmares are the result." He tossed the hand-held scanner onto a nearby table and turned back to Shiro, trying to calm him down.

"Listen, Shiro, it's all right," he said soothingly, reaching out to touch his friend's shoulder. "You're resting, you're safe, Allura's here with me, and we're going to be right here, we're going to help you-"

Shiro couldn't seem to hear him. He began to breathe fast again, panic creeping into his voice, his cybernetic arm beginning to twitch. "Don't - don't you go near them - they don't know anything-" his voice was low, desperate, almost frantic. "Don't - don't-"

Allura saw his cybernetic arm beginning to glow and pointed it out to Coran, her eyes wide. He saw, and carefully but deliberately, he reached over and pressed a secondary control on the restraint - the one that activated the double-lock protocol.

A secondary magnetic lock activated, and the cuff that was locked over the right sidebar locked itself a second time, securing firmly around its portion of the bar, while also pulling the cuff around the cybernetic wrist into itself, sealing seamlessly. There was no longer any give whatever between the cuffs.

Shiro would no longer be able to move his right wrist at all - it would stay locked to that section of the bar unless Coran completely reset the control panel on the restraint - which he was extremely unlikely to do until this was all over. Also, the cybernetic wrist was pulled down far enough to keep Shiro's right arm almost completely immobile - if he really started trying to use that arm, all he could move now would be the elbow, and even that would be extremely difficult to manage.

Another advantage to the double-lock protocol was that it would keep Shiro from activating the weapon setting on his right arm. Allura felt a flash of anger at herself for not doing that in the first place, but Shiro's next words drove the thought from her mind.

"Don't - don't hurt them," he said, and he sounded even more angry and desperate now. " _Don't hurt them_ -"

Coran set his hands on both of Shiro's shoulders - if Shiro was having a nightmare, then he had to keep him from-

Shiro's eyes suddenly flew open, and he seemed to be staring right into Coran's face. But his pupils were far too wide, and he didn't react as if he could actually see Coran. He was still fast asleep, still seeing something else entirely.

Suddenly Shiro's lips peeled back from his teeth in a snarl, and he wrenched at his right wrist, growling, "If you touch them, _I'll kill you,"_ with such ferocity, Coran was glad he had already pinned Shiro's shoulders to the bed. But the Black Paladin was strong, and if he broke free, there was no telling what he might do in this delirious state of mind. He might attack Coran, or tear out the line in his arm, or rip open his stitches. They had to prevent that.

"It's all right, Shiro, just calm down, no one's in danger," Coran said, as gently as he could. He glanced over at Allura, and jerked his head towards the nearby storage container that's she'd opened earlier. He didn't like the thought of doing this, but there was a growing possibility that unless they acted quickly, Shiro could do himself real damage. The wounds in his side were still very, very prone to re-opening.

If he wasn't going to stay in a deep sleep - if this indeed would turn out to be a time of nightmares - Coran was willing to do whatever was necessary to keep Shiro from tearing his wounds open. Even - and Coran _hated_ this thought - even if meant securing Shiro to the hospital bed like a prisoner.

"Coran-" Allura said, at first not completely understanding what he was telling her to do, then not wanting to do it. She was absolutely certain that in this state of mind, Shiro would panic once he felt restraints touch his skin.

Shiro suddenly tried to wrench free of Coran's grip, twisting to one side, and it was all Coran could do to keep hold of him. Scarlet traces begin to show on the recently tied bandages, and the courtier glanced over his shoulder at Allura, and his voice had more steel in it than she had ever heard before. "Princess, help me, _now,_ " he said.

Allura grabbed four more restraints without further question. They had to act, and they had to act fast. Shiro was strong enough to break free of Coran's grip in only a few moments, so she had no time to lose.

"Let _go_ of me!" Shiro snarled, still staring sightlessly up at Coran. His voice almost an animalistic growl. "I said, _don't go near them — I'll kill you - if you touch them-"_

Allura felt sweat trickle down her back, and she thanked all her lucky stars she'd kept her promise to Shiro and already secured that cybernetic wrist to the nearby bedrail, and that Coran had engaged the double-lock protocol. It was reserved either for really, _really_ strong enemies, or, in this hospital setting, when a patient's unpredictable and uncoordinated movement could result in worsening their own injuries. Either way, it rendered them almost completely immobile.

Shiro was calling out names now, frantically. "Sam! Matt! No, don't - _stop it_ \- they don't know anything - " He wrenched again at the restraint holding his right arm in place, and if it hadn't been double-locked, he might have pulled it free. " _Stop it_ \- leave them _alone_ \- "

Even as she came to the right side of the bed, Shiro tried to throw a punch with his left arm at Coran, who managed to dodge it just in time, barely keeping Shiro from wrenching the line out of his arm. He wrestled Shiro's arm back down to his side, using his weight as leverage to hold Shiro down. The Black Paladin was frantic now - demanding, begging, pleading for them to let him go, for them to let him go _now_ -

"Shiro - Shiro, listen to me, you've got to stop - moving - you're hurting yourself - you'll rip your stitches out-"

There was more blood on the bandages now. Coran hated himself for keeping Shiro pinned like this, but he had to. He set his teeth and tried to ignore the desperation and panic in Shiro's voice. The anger was gone now - it was more - lonely - scared - vulnerable. It was somehow worse than the wild fury he'd displayed earlier.

"Let - _go_ \- I have to - I have - to - Sam - _Matt_ \- don't take them - they don't know anything - they don't - don't take them - "

Allura forced herself to focus. Coran was buying her precious time. She had to doubly secure the cybernetic arm by cuffing the elbow to the bedside rail, then Shiro's right leg, his left leg, and finally his left wrist. She had to make sure she did each one right on the first try, because any errors on her part would mean he'd rip open his wounds even more when he started thrashing again.

She moved quickly, taking a precious second to ensure that all the restraints she held had the double-lock protocol set on automatic. Then, holding two sets of restraints under her chin, keeping two more - one in each hand - at the ready, she moved as swiftly as a striking snake. She slammed the first set down on Shiro's right arm, securing his mechanical elbow to the bedrail. At almost the same instant, she secured his right ankle to the rail at the food of the bed.

Shiro screamed in blind panic when he felt the lock cycle shut on his right ankle, just as she'd feared. As she came around the other side of the bed, the second pair of restraints now ready in her hands, Shiro kicked out with his left leg in a desperate effort to wrench free.

Coran pivoted just in time to avoid the worst of the kick, still keeping enough weight on Shiro's left arm to keep him from breaking free. Allura had to duck to avoid the kick, but then she was able to secure his ankle to the rail at the foot of the bed. Finally, she secured his left wrist to the sidebar without dislodging the IV in his arm. After that was finished, Allura and Coran each took in a deep breath, staggering a few steps away, both of them watching Shiro in mixed resignation and sadness.

As the last restraint cycled shut over his left wrist, Shiro snarled - a horrible, deep, painful sound, and tried to kick out a second time, but his legs were firmly secured. He struggled desperately for a moment, trying to break free from one of the restraints, _any_ of them. Sweat dripped down his neck, and he was panting from the effort of trying to break free.

He was fully restrained. He couldn't move either of his wrists or ankles, and as much as he tried, he couldn't get free. _He was on the Druid's ship. They were going to experiment on him again._

Shiro made a low, cornered sound, like a wounded animal, and slammed his head back against the cot's surface, once, twice, three times, feeling the panic mount in his chest. He tried desperately to dislodge the IV, but he couldn't. He tried - hopelessly, desperately - to get one of his limbs free, to fight, to do _something_. "No," he hissed, and his voice was hopeless now, and frantic, so low, it was almost unable to be heard. "No - No - No - N-"

Coran took a step forward, breathing hard. He'd received only a glancing blow from Shiro's kick, but it had winded him. With some difficulty, he managed to place a hand on Shiro's shoulder, and tried again to reassure him, but without any noticeable success.

Shiro didn't even seem to notice Coran's presence at all. The Black Paladin just kept wrenching at his wrists, clenching and unclenching his fists in an almost frantic manner. He was stuck in a nightmare, and the only thing they could do to help was find some way of safely sedating him.

Allura turned and ripped open the medical supplies cabinet, desperately scanning the medical labels for a particular kind of sedative. It had to be something that wouldn't counteract the anti-toxin, and it took her a precious moment to find. In the meantime, she could hear Coran's continued attempts at reassurance.

"Shiro, we're not here to hurt you - no one is in danger - you're having a nightmare- it's me, it's Coran - and Allura's here too-"

"No," Shiro said, shaking his head from side to side, the only resistance he could still make, breathing as if he'd just run a mile, his chest heaving, "no, you're lying, you're lying - _stop using their faces, stop using their voices_ \- you can't fool me, you can't - "

Allura found the one she'd been looking for - something that might help slow his heart rate without combating the anti-toxin. She prepared the syringe and came back over to the bedside. She wished she could ease into this the way she had the last time, but that was the problem, there just wasn't any time. He'd already ripped several stitches open, and they _had_ to bring his heart rate down.

"Coran," she said, "I think this will help-"

Shiro's eyes seemed to focus on her, but distantly, as if he were in mist, and she a blurry figure at the edge of his sight. "You're not her," he said, and his voice was hollow, and lost, and scared. "You're not- you're _not_ \- you're not Allura - stop pretending to be -"

Allura felt as if her heart would rip apart. _Gods, he thinks he's still in Haggar's power._ She bit her lip, steeled her nerves, and tried to keep her voice steady.

"Coran, please hold him still," she said, and she brought the needle towards Shiro's arm, near the bandage she'd put on just a little while ago. Even though he couldn't move much, Shiro tried to twist his body away from her as much as he could, attempting to get as far away as possible from the needle's gleaming point.

"Please - " he whispered - "Please - no - not again - I'm not - I can't - "

Coran reached down with both hands, pressed Shiro's shoulders back down to the cot, and held him firmly in place. Shiro let out a desperate cry then, almost like a wounded animal, and tried to break free. Coran only tightened his grip, face set and sad.

"Please -" Shiro begged, and he was shaking now, and Allura hated how scared he sounded, how terrified he was, his eyes focused on the needle, "please - don't - don't do this - don't - _please_ -"

Coran winced as if struck, but he set his jaw and kept his grip firm. His eyes were glistening, and he tried desperately not to look at Shiro's expression of terror as the needle pierced his skin. Shiro let out a whimper of panic, his breaths coming faster and faster, his chest rising and falling frantically.

Allura pushed the syringe in, making sure the entire dose was given, trying not to see the way he turned his face away from her as she did so, how he squeezed his eyes shut in both pain and fear. This sedative was his only chance of relief, even if he thought it _was_ poison.

Then Shiro moaned, and it was a heart-wrenching sound. Tears started to trickle out of his still-closed eyes, and he took first one shuddering breath, and than another. He seemed to be trying to brace himself for something, some awful, sickening pain that was coming at any moment.

"Not again - " he said, and his voice was broken, almost jagged, "please - not - not again - _please_ -"

Allura hated the witch Haggar in that instant. Hated her for causing such pain to someone so dear to her. Hated her not with a vicious, soul-wrenching, sickly sort of anger, but with a pure fire of fury so brilliant, it rivaled the sun. If she ever caught up with that witch, there would be nothing but ashes left once the Princess of Altea finished with her.

Allura turned away from her wounded Paladin and threw the now empty syringe towards the far side of the room, her composure nearly shattering as completely as the instrument when it struck the far wall.

"Princess," Coran said, his voice sympathetic. "You did it to help him - it'll work soon-"

Coran kept talking, but she couldn't make out the words. Her eyes had filled with hot tears, and it took her a few moments to gather herself enough to trust her voice.

"I know, Coran. But it doesn't make it any easier."

She turned back after a short while, brushing her eyes with the back of one hand, hardly daring to look at Shiro.

Tear tracks still glistened on his face, but he wasn't trying to break free of Coran's grip anymore. His eyes were still closed, his head turned away from her, as if in anticipation of a blow. His muscles were shaking, still waiting for some awful, phantom pain she could do nothing to prevent.

But his heart rate was somewhat slower than it had been, and that was some improvement, if not much. The shaking might simply be muscle spasms, brought on by the tension of the nightmare. But only time would tell.

"You can let go of him, Coran," she said, almost dully. "I think it's working - at least somewhat. He's not struggling anymore."

Coran lifted first one hand, than the other away from Shiro. He let out a quiet breath, wiped a hand across his own eyes, and took a few steps towards Allura.

"Princess," he said gently, "there was no way we could have known this - this nightmare - would happen. You can't blame yourself for -"

She held up a hand, and he broke off, face sad but understanding.

"How long will the nightmares last?" she asked, already guessing the answer.

"It seems as if they'll…they'll only stop once the toxin is completely neutralized," Coran said miserably. "It's going to be difficult to keep him…well, to keep him out of the nightmares until then. I think the best we can do is try and keep his heart rate down as much as possible, and hope the medicine works more quickly than we thought it would."

She nodded, picking up the medical tablet again. When she'd grabbed the restraints, she'd dropped it onto one of the nearby medical trays. She looked at it for a moment, calculating, weighing their options.

"We should make sure the plasma replacement machine is ready for the next unit," she said. Her words felt almost as dry and lifeless as a drained crystal. "His thrashing certainly tore some stitches and dislodged the bandages. We'll need to give him more plasma soon - somehow - we'll have to make sure he can't dislodge the tubing before we start that - but the first thing we should do is stitch and bandage his side again."

Coran nodded again. "He may become agitated before we're finished doing that. I think we might-" He stopped, looking very weary. "-I think we should use a fifth restraint. Nothing too tight, of course, but it should go across his chest, to keep him from trying to sit up. That should also keep him from dislodging the IV."

"Yes, that's - that's a good idea, Coran. Go ahead and do that now. I'll prepare the-"

The tablet gave another warning beep. She stared down at the blinking red warning script, and then she looked bleakly back at Shiro, whose heart rate had begun to speed up again. His breaths were coming faster, too, and from the horrible, desperate sounds that escaped his gritted teeth, it sounded like whatever pain he'd been expecting had caught up to him.

Coran moved quickly then, securing the fifth restraint over Shiro's upper chest. It firmly pinned his shoulders to the cot. At least now, he couldn't thrash around in panic and rip his wounds open or dislodge the line in his left arm. No matter how much he might wish to.

 _How encouraging_. With all the fear her sedative had caused him, she hadn't even bought him five minutes of reduced heart rate.

And with the sedative now in his system, she didn't dare to give him any pain relief medicine. She told Coran what they had to do.

Coran's shoulders slumped for a moment. Then he pressed his mouth into a determined line and, without a word, he went to the cabinet to find the necessary medical supplies they would need, as well as fresh bandages.

"I can help to hold him steady again while you stitch the wounds shut," he said after he'd pulled the materials out of the cabinet and held them towards her, his voice stiff and practical, very unlike his usual self.

Allura knew it wasn't from any anger towards her - rather, it expressed the immediate need for unemotional action. She swallowed once, then nodded, determined to do it and get it over with. She took the supplies she needed from Coran's hands and arranged them on the tray nearest to Shiro's injured side. Then she slipped on the sterile gloves, determinedly keeping her emotions in a closed box in her mind. She needed to do this _now_ , before she thought about how much this was going to hurt her Paladin.

"Can we at least sedate him again?" she asked Coran as he came to stand by her. She stood at Shiro's right side, while he stood at Shiro's head. Shiro was still shaking, his eyes closed, his face drawn and pale, but they couldn't wait any longer to fix the stitches he'd ripped out. If the next plasma replacement unit were to do any good, they had to fix the wounds in his side _now_.

Coran shook his head. "We can't, not so soon after the first one. And anyway, it frightened him more than it helped him, and it wouldn't work long enough to do any real good."

He took a deep breath, looked at her, and said, "You can do this. Remember, even stitches, quick movements."

Allura worked as quickly and efficiently as she could.

Shiro's eyes shot open as she began to disinfect his wound, but although he felt the pain, he still wasn't awake. Instead, he in was another nightmare - he thought they were Druids, experimenting on him. He begged them to stop, but Coran simply kept hold of his shoulders, helping to keep him still so Allura could continue her work, and Allura did so, disinfecting, stitching, closing the wounds. She couldn't afford to listen to the sounds Shiro made as she worked - desperate, scared, pained sounds that made her insides quiver and fuse together, but she didn't dare listen. She couldn't afford to.

He tried to break free again several times, wrenching so hard at the cuffs securing him that Coran thought the skin must surely be rubbed raw. Gods, he hoped this would be over soon.

Throughout the entire painful process, he had to help keep the boy's shoulders still, had to keep him pinned firmly down so he wouldn't thrash and throw off Allura's stitches. The boy - Black Paladin or not, he was barely more than a child in Coran's eyes - was still deep in a nightmare, and he was absolutely terrified. Coran had to ignore every instinct in him that screamed for him to stop this, to wake Shiro up, to do _something_ that alleviated his pain instead of prolonging it.

But he couldn't. He couldn't stop the anti-toxin process. He hadn't yet told Allura, but the toxicity level in Shiro's blood was high enough where they couldn't dare delay or even slow the process. No matter how quickly the anti-toxin neutralized the threat, it was simply far too powerful a poison to take any chances. This meant they were far more limited in their options than usual. All they could do for now was to finish treating these wounds, try to keep his heart rate down, and hope the toxin was completely neutralized ahead of schedule.

Because Coran wasn't sure how long any of them could hold out under the circumstances.

It was grueling work, but Coran and Allura finally finished reapplying the stitches and bandages to Shiro's side. Once they were done, they each stepped back again, faces pale and drawn. Allura's hands - steady and calm while disinfecting the wound, when plying her needle and thread to the damaged skin, when applying the final salve and wrapping the entire wound in clean bandages - finally began to shake.

She clasped them together tightly, looking down at Shiro's face. He was covered in sweat, his shirt soaked through with it, his blood now on her hands, on her clothes. He'd finally stopped trying to escape about half-way through the final steps, and he'd stopped making those awful sounds of pain, too. His breathing was labored, exhausted. His heart rate - his heart rate was lurching along, but somewhat stable, for now.

Coran was proud of her self-control, but he knew it was close to the breaking point.

He didn't blame her. Part of him - a large part - wanted to sit down, put his head in his hands, and cry. But he could not indulge that part of himself. Not yet.

"Coran," she said. "I - I have to-"

He nodded, trying to hide the weariness in his voice. "Of course. I'll handle this next plasma replacement. Maybe…maybe you could send Keith in, after a few minutes? I…I think I'll need some help."

She nodded, then fled into the hallway, flinging the gloves into the wastebasket as she ran from the room.

Coran prepared the plasma replacement machine slowly, deliberately, knowing he had to be careful and make no mistakes, no matter how tired he was. He sincerely hoped Shiro would remain unconscious and still during the process.

He did.

But somehow that didn't help Coran feel any better.

Because he knew it was just a lull in the storm.


	4. Trying to Help

Allura found Keith still in his spot near the door to the lounge, a single pillow under his head. He was mostly hidden under an assortment of random blankets, but opened his eyes at once when she laid a hand on his shoulder. Looking up into her face, he could tell something was wrong. He leapt to his feet, as silently and swiftly as a cat, and followed her into the hallway. He listened with a set expression and crossed arms as she explained the situation to him.

"So if we can keep his heart rate down, it might help with the nightmares?" he asked when she was finished.

"Yes," she said. "But it's proving difficult."

Keith's eyes narrowed, and if Allura had seen that expression even a week earlier, she would have thought it was anger aimed at her, for bringing bad news. But she knew him well enough now to see he was furiously thinking of possible solutions, and frustrated at the lack of feasible ones.

"Does Coran have any ideas?" he asked. Allura shook her head. "He just told me that since we can't stop or slow the anti-toxin treatment, our options are very, very limited. And as I said, sedatives don't seem to work for very long."

Keith bared his teeth at the darkness of the hallway, as if he was facing Haggar the witch there. "And the pain relief medicine could cause further complications. Ones we can't risk."

Allura felt her throat constrict again, but she swallowed and nodded, feeling tears well up in her eyes again. "So," Keith said in a monotone that belied the fury behind his eyes, "Normal, safe levels of sedation don't work. The pain relief medication is too risky. And the end result is that he's stuck in nightmares until whenever this toxin runs out of steam?"

Allura nodded, wiping at her eyes again. Keith's eyes were not fixed on her, but she saw a glint of yellow flare up up in them briefly before dying back to their normal shade of deep purple. His voice sounded like a growl when he finally spoke. "That witch really, _really_ needs to die."

Allura allowed herself a shaky nod. She was too weary and sad to try for a smile. "That we can agree upon. But what should we do now?"

Keith thought for another minute, then his eyes widened. "What about - I don't know if it'll work the same with nightmares as it does thoughts - but - could one of us connect to Shiro's mind? Tell him it's all a dream - maybe that connection would help - "

Allura felt her eyes widen, and she gasped. "It - it's possible - but - would it be safe for the one attempting it? We don't know how the toxin might react to -"

Keith's eyes went hard. " _My_ safety isn't an issue. He's stuck in his worst nightmares, and you're telling me something I can do might help him? I'm doing this, end of discussion."

He began walking towards the room where Shiro lay, his footsteps landing harsh and determined on the hallway floor. Allura followed him, but he stopped in the doorway of the room and turned around to face her.

"Princess," he said, and with some surprise, she heard a trace of gentleness in his voice. Maybe it had been there before, but she hadn't heard it. "You're exhausted. Get some rest. Coran can help me with the process. We'll keep you all updated."

She bit her lip and looked over his shoulder, through the closed yet transparent door. Shiro's eyes were closed, but his face was still creased with pain and fear. He was breathing steadily, but it seemed to cause him pain. Probably from her having to redo the stitches the way she had.

Coran stood next to Shiro, looking down at the Black Paladin with an expression she hadn't seen in a long time. It was tired, sad, and lost. She felt as if she was watching him witness Zarkon's victory over Altea all over again.

Keith put a hand on her shoulder, and she started in surprise. She'd almost forgotten he was there. "Go rest with the others," he said. "You can use my stuff."

She didn't know a lot about humans - or about possible part-Galrans, for that matter - but she did know a lot about Keith. The permission for her to use his pillows and blankets was not something to be taken lightly. It mattered. It mattered deeply. It was - it was - very comforting, and very sweet, in its own simple, very laconic way.

She felt tears well up in her eyes again, and she tried to blink them away. "Thank - thank you, Keith," she said, trying to smile to show her sincerity. "But - I - I want to help -"

Keith looked her in the eyes then, and a hint of his usual stubbornness glinted there. " _I'm_ going to help Shiro now, in any way I can," he said firmly. "But you've _got_ to rest. You took on an entire Galra fleet and the _witch's mothership_ to get us back, and then you opened a looping wormhole to keep us out of reach of an empire that spans three-quarters of the universe. And you've also patched Shiro up - twice. You're exhausted."

He took hold of her other shoulder, turned her gently around, and gave her a half-push towards the direction of the sleeping Paladins. "Go rest," he said. "Coran will come and get Pidge in a little while. She'll be my partner when he's finished. We'll rotate from now on. Two people at all times, so we can all get sleep when we can. I promise to tell you about any major developments." He turned on his heel and went into the room.

"Coran," she heard him say as the door closed behind him. "I've got an idea."

"I'm just not sure this will work," Coran said a little while later, adjusting the 'mental exercise' device on Keith's head for what seemed the twentieth time. He'd just finished wrapping a simpler, older device around Shiro's left wrist. As far as connections went, few were more improvised then this middle-of-the-night, desperate attempt between Paladins.

But Coran didn't feel a full mental connection would be a safe idea. He had taken a lot of convincing to give this far, _far_ more diluted version a try. By Coran's calculations, Keith might not even be able to fully see inside Shiro's mind, but there was a chance Shiro might - just might - be able to hear Keith.

"It doesn't have to work perfectly," Keith said. "But it's _got_ to _help_."

Coran huffed out a worried breath. "Look, Keith, I hope this does help Shiro, I really do - I just - I just can't chance you getting pulled too deep into the nightmare. That's why we're sticking with this very simple version of your original idea."

Keith stuck out his jaw in that stubborn way he had. "I can handle whatever happens."

Coran felt a temporary surge of frustrated concern well up in his chest, and it took every shred of his remaining self-control not to snap out his answer. "Keith, you're a very, _very_ strong-willed person, but please, _please_ , do not make the same mistake you made in fighting Zarkon."

Keith's eyes narrowed. "What mistake?"

Coran sighed. "You thought you could take him on alone. You nearly _died_." His voice broke on the last word. "You nearly _died_ , Keith. Don't ever make the mistake of thinking that doesn't matter to us." He coughed, then just decided to say it. "Because it does. And I would never forgive myself if that happened."

Keith's eyes went wide as saucers. "Oh," he said. As if trying to find something to do after a revelation like that, he reached up to his forehead to touch the device, and Coran automatically smacked his hand away. Keith blinked in surprise, then suddenly broke out into a half-grin. It was a genuine smile, but there was fierceness in it too.

"Look, Coran," he said, "I'm not really one for talking. Let's just do this, okay?"

Coran sighed, but then medical tablet beeped its warning again. Shiro's heart rate was beginning to rise once more, and they had to try and bring it down.

"All right, Keith," Coran said, "-I'm starting it up - try - _now_ -"

Keith leaned forward on his chair. "Okay. Here it goes."

 _Shiro was lost in a nightmare. He was back on the Druid's ship, but this time, he wasn't alone._

 _All of the other Paladins were with him…and Coran and Allura were dead…dead because they had tried to help their Paladins escape from the Druid's ship._

 _Now all the Paladins were captives in Haggar's power._

 _Haggar was taunting him, telling him he couldn't save his team, and he was trying, he was **trying** to get to them, but he couldn't break free - he couldn't break free - _

_Something flickered in the corner of his vision - a face - someone familiar -_

" _Shiro! Hey - Shiro!"_

 _He heard Keith shout his name, and he tried, he really tried, to lift his head and see where the sound was coming from, but the witch was saying something, and her voice was louder and closer than Keith's voice, and it chilled his blood._

" _I will need a new Champion. This unique specimen will do well in the arena…but not without some modifications, of course…"_

 _Then Shiro was listening to Keith screaming, screaming like he was dying, and Shiro was begging Haggar to stop, but the screams continued. It felt like they continued for days. Then something dulled his senses, and everything went grey._

"Keith!"

That was Coran, calling his name. He was shaking Keith by the shoulder, trying to help him sit up.

Sit up?

What?

Keith blinked his eyes open slowly, realizing he was on the ground, lying on his side. He'd fallen out of his chair. And his nose was bleeding.

When had that happened?

He hadn't realized he'd asked the question out loud until Coran answered him, his face white. "You called out Shiro's name, and then - you started screaming, Keith. You were screaming in pain, and you convulsed, and then you fell out of the chair. I would have gotten to you sooner, but right after you called his name, Shiro's heart rate spiked so high - and he was frantic - I - I had to sedate him before I could get to you - oh, Keith, _what happened -"_

"It - felt like - like something was blocking me from reaching Shiro," Keith answered. "I think - I think I almost reached him - but - something interfered, and it messed up the connection. It…twisted it somehow…I think…I think I just made whatever was messing with Shiro's mind stronger…"

He felt Coran's hand on his forehead, and then again, on the back of his head, and he was so dazed, it took him a moment to realize Coran was undoing the clasp on the mental device.

Coran finished undoing the clasp and pulled the device off of Keith's forehead. The boy was more shaken by the experience than he cared to admit out loud, but Coran had seen enough of battle to realize when someone had taken a serious hit.

Thank the gods they hadn't tried a full mind meld. Keith might have died, instead of receiving the equivalent of a mental back-slap across the face.

This toxin was _terrifying._ It had locked down the fear center of Shiro's brain so effectively as to not only block a fellow Paladin from mental contact, but to be able to attack him like that - quiznak, Keith was lucky to be breathing.

Deciding to make absolutely certain this experiment wouldn't be repeated, Coran turned around and quickly undid the simple knot that had attached the other device to Shiro's left hand. He then took both devices and threw them into a chute that lead directly to one of the castle's main incinerators.

Coran wasn't going to take chances with his Paladins' safety. Not this time.

"Keith," he said, helping the boy into his chair again, "I need you to sit still, all right? I need to scan your brain."

"Scan my - " Keith repeated, but stopped and shrugged in an 'okay' gesture. For a moment, Coran thought he must have hit his head harder then he'd originally thought. Keith never agreed that easily to anything.

Then he looked closer and saw Keith's eyes had their usual, glittering hard edge to them. He was angry and frustrated with himself, feeling that in his efforts to help, he had only made Shiro's condition worse.

Coran used various devices to scan Keith's brain, then checked his eyes, and was satisfied after a few more basic tests that Keith had not been infected or permanently damaged by his encounter by - well, whatever the quiznak this toxin was.

Oh, thank the stars. Keith was all right.

The beeping sound Coran had come to hate came again, and he turned towards Shiro. The Black Paladin looked awful. His skin was once again slick with sweat, his shirt sticking to his chest, and he was trying to wrench his wrists loose again. The sedative had completely worn off, along with the small amount of good it had done.

"Keith," he was panting, and his voice was harsh, grating, "Keith - no - no - you can't have him - you can't- he's not - he's not - your champion - just - just leave him alone -"

As Keith watched his friend, his eyes going dark and his brow creasing in dismay, Coran went to the supply closet and took out another syringe of sedative.

"Keith, hold him steady," Coran said. "It's a stronger dose, but if it can keep his heart rate down, it should help us buy more time to figure out what to do."

Keith didn't want to help hold his friend down. Especially when his nightmare-trapped friend was convinced he was a Galra soldier, and snarled at him, and tried to headbutt him in the nose. But he was able to help Coran sedate Shiro again. Once finished, Coran sat down wearily in the nearest chair. Since the heart rate monitor had slowed down, Keith stepped back too and took another good look at Shiro. His friend looked horrible. Pale, clammy skin, face looking like death warmed over, and according to Allura's description, this was supposed to be an _improvement_ to what he'd looked like earlier in the evening.

Then he looked again at Coran, and felt that if were possible, Coran looked even worse. His usually friendly, cheerful face was drained of all energy, and even his mustache seemed to droop. His eyes were bloodshot and he had stains of deep red on his once-crisp uniform.

"Coran," he said, trying to think of something helpful to say.

 _You did what you had to._

 _Shiro wouldn't blame you for this._

 _I know it's not your fault._

"Go get some rest, Coran. You deserve it."

Coran nodded, rising stiffly from the chair. "Just a moment, though," he said. "I'll show you exactly how the medical tablet works, and make sure you know what we can use to sedate him." He also picked up the scanner he'd used previously, the one that read the toxicity level in Shiro's blood. He showed Keith how to run that one first. The reading they took showed that the toxin was almost half-way neutralized.

"Wait - didn't Allura say this process was supposed to take - like, two days?" Keith asked, slightly confused. "It's only been - eight hours - shouldn't that mean it won't take much longer? That's good, right?"

"The toxin is being neutralized _much_ faster than we originally thought," Coran agreed, "but these nightmares, and the resulting stress on Shiro's body - that's what we're really worried about. I don't know why the toxin is fighting so hard, especially since the medicine is working so well, but we have to do everything we can to keep Shiro from getting lost in these nightmares."

His shoulders slumped suddenly. "Honestly, I don't know how long this process might take. But however long it does, we've got to keep careful track of his condition." He took a deep breath and pointed to a few other medical devices. "Which is why I'm going to explain how these work."

Keith nodded, once. "Okay. Show me."

After Coran showed him about the other devices and medicines, he also made Keith promise - on his _soul_ \- to get Coran or Allura if anything remotely out of the strictest parameters happened.

"If his temperature goes above 102 degrees?" Coran asked.

"I come and get you," Keith recited, deciding to humor the Altean courtier. He had just been up for the past - wait, just how long _had_ Coran been awake?

"If his heart rate exceeds -" Coran began to ask, but Keith cut him off.

"Coran - I got it. Come on, you've got to go and get some rest," he said, and a trace of worry must have leaked into his voice, because Coran looked at him strangely.

"You haven't slept for over two days," Keith said, "Hell, maybe three." He put an awkward hand on Coran's elbow, and Coran's mouth almost dropped open in surprise.

Keith usually _hated_ touching people, but he seemed to be trying to conquer that dislike of physical contact. Maybe he was trying to strengthen his relationship with different members of the team…?

Well, at least some of them. He still retreated from Hunk's hugs or Lance's joking elbow jabs. But that small gesture, especially from Keith - well, it meant a lot to Coran. He felt some of the long-held tension drain out of his body.

"You've done _really_ well," Keith said. "Shiro's doing better now, and it's thanks to you and Allura. Now let me take it from here."

He dropped his hand from Coran's elbow and pushed him towards the door. "Just tell Pidge to get in here," he said. "I'll explain everything to her."

Coran paused just outside the door, looking back at Keith briefly. He smiled then, a very tired, very weary, but very genuine smile.

"Paladins," he said, and then, a little more quietly, "Take good care of him, okay?"

Keith nodded once, firmly. "You know I will."

Coran left, quietly closing the door behind him, and Keith turned back to face Shiro, feeling his face settle into a troubled frown.

Then Keith sat down in a chair next to the bed, running a hand through his hair, and tried to think of what else they could do to help Shiro.

Pidge was pretty smart. Maybe she'd have some new ideas.

And maybe her ideas wouldn't backfire so spectacularly as his had.

Still, at least now they knew the toxin was -

He shuddered, remembering its vicious energy, the way it had reached out and touched his mind -

They knew the toxin was dangerous in more than one way.

That had to be helpful on some level, right?

He looked over again at Shiro, heard the dreaded beeping sound begin again, and felt his own chest constrict as he saw that his friend's heart rate had started to climb again. Slowly but surely, Shiro was beginning to slide back into his nightmares.

Maybe - maybe if he talked to him, it might help. It wasn't like it was going to hurt to try, right?


	5. It Gets Worse

"Look, Shiro," Keith began, and then stopped. Like he would know what to say to bring someone out of the worst nightmare of their life. He needed Hunk for something like that. Come to think of it, maybe he needed the rest of the team, too.

But then Shiro was saying something. "Keith…?"

His voice was hoarse and weak, almost too soft to hear.

Keith jumped up so fast in his haste to get to his friend, he almost fell over his own chair. He grabbed Shiro's flesh hand in both of his, to let him know he was there, that he wasn't alone anymore.

"Shiro? Hey, Shiro - are you awake? Are you okay?"

Something like fear or uncertainty flickered across Shiro's face for a minute, but it smoothed over. "I - I think so," he said. "I can't - it's hard to tell - when I'm awake - or when I'm -"

His breath hitched a bit, and Keith felt his friend's hand tighten around his, and he made an attempt to keep his voice steady, reassuring, comforting, something Shiro would do if a team member woke up disoriented and scared after a nightmare.

"Yeah, I know, but hey, Shiro - Shiro, come on - can you look at me? Look, it's gonna be okay, you hear me? We're going to get you through this," Keith said, grabbing hold of Shiro's shoulder in encouragement. "We're going to get you through this, okay?"

Shiro opened one eye to look at him, as if trying to experiment with sight again, and quickly closed it. "Yeah," he managed. "But it'd be great - if my head - wasn't killing me. Can you - can you dim the light?"

"Sure," Keith said, putting Shiro's hand down and turning, taking a few steps towards the door, but before he could reach it, it was opened from the outside.

"Hey, Keith!" That was Pidge, hastening into the room, without her glasses for the first time since Keith had known her. One of the mice was perched on top of her shoulder, with the others riding in her shirt's pockets. They chirruped cheerfully at Keith, and the one on her shoulder hopped down onto Shiro's cot and scampered up onto his chest, nuzzling at his shirt comfortingly. He opened his other eye then, just for a second, and smiled down at it, saying "Hey, there," and it sat up and cheeped a little bit into his face, as if trying to encourage him.

"Pidge," Keith said, "hey, could you dim the light a bit?"

"Sure - " Pidge said, turning and adjusting the light switch near the door to something a little more muted. "How's that?" she asked, turning back towards them.

"Shiro?" Keith asked, and as he turned his head, he saw his friend open one eye again, and then Shiro gave a brief nod.

"Better, thanks," Shiro managed, but his voice was still really weak. At least he'd managed to open both eyes now, and was peering towards the door, where the dim light from the hallway backlit both Keith and Pidge. "Is - is Pidge there?"

"Yeah, Shiro, I'm here," Pidge said, coming forward. "Can I help? Did you want something?"

"I just - I'm not sure - but - I think - I think th - "

Suddenly, Shiro stiffened. His eyes rolled back up into his head, and he slumped back onto the cot, and Keith felt his own heart skip a few beats, and for a moment, he didn't know what to do. The mice had all gone quiet - and Shiro wasn't moving at all.

"Shiro!" he shouted, lunging forward, glancing at the medical tablet. His friend's heart rate had been fine - what was going on - wait - wait, what if - _oh, shit_ \- _oh shit - oh shit - shitshitshitshit-_

He hoped he was wrong. He hoped to God and all the stars he was dead, dead wrong.

Keith changed the direction of his lunge, grabbed the suddenly quiet mouse off of Shiro's chest, and dumped it unceremoniously onto the chair Coran had used, using the same motion to grab the scanner Coran had left there earlier. He started another scan of Shiro's injury, making sure to stay a few steps away from the bed, his heart pounding.

Please let his theory be wrong. Please. Please. _Please_.

It wasn't.

"Get Allura!" he shouted at the mouse on the chair, and it squeaked in understanding, jumping to the ground and running quickly out of the open door and down the hallway.

Pidge had been frozen in place, staring at Shiro's limp body. "Oh - God - Shiro!" she suddenly yelped, and took a few quick steps forward. Keith grabbed her shoulder, preventing her from moving any closer to the cot, and she looked up, confused. "Keith - what - why aren't you-"

He hissed to her, sudden panic in his voice, " _I don't think that's Shiro_."

Pidge's head rocked back as if he'd struck her across the face. The three mice in her pockets had stayed absolutely still, and she realized they were scared. But of what?

"What do you mean - he - he was with us on the ship - it _has_ to be him - oh, God, it _has_ to be -"

"It _is_!" Keith hissed. "At least, it's mostly him - but - I don't know - if - it's something else, too. Something dangerous - really, _really_ dangerous -"

At that moment, Allura ran into the room, Coran right behind her, the little mouse messenger peeping out of his jacket pocket. Behind him, but still in the hallway, Hunk and Lance stared into the room, confusion and fright on their faces. Keith turned sidewards to face them all, Pidge beside him. They all just stood there staring at each other for a startled, tense second.

"What's going on?!" Lance demanded. "Allura said something about - about the toxin -"

Keith felt his skin prickle all the way down his spine when he heard the voice come from behind him.

Because it wasn't coming from anyone he recognized.

"-the toxin being more powerful than you thought?"

Slowly, Keith turned back towards the voice, pulling Pidge behind him, away from the figure on the cot. It - it looked like Shiro, and it even sounded a lot like him. But it wasn't his friend.

His friend didn't have eyes like black marbles, or a voice that cut like broken glass. He'd never smiled a cold, distant, half-smile that could a freeze a lake in midsummer. No, his friend Shiro was an entirely different person that whatever looked back at him from that cot.

The eyes. It was the black, dead eyes with no light reflected in them that gave the - the _thing_ that had taken over Shiro's body - away. In the dim light of the room, the change wouldn't haven been immediately noticeable.

Shiro had woken up - Keith knew that - he'd talked to him, but then this - this _thing_ \- had taken over.

Sweet stars and comets, that had been close. If the mice hadn't gone strangely quiet right as Shiro fell back onto the bed, Keith would have tried to help - and that thing - maybe it would have infected him, too. And Pidge. And then the rest of them.

He couldn't think about that now. He had to try to get it talking, get to learn more about what had just happened. He had to learn more about it so that he could figure out how to stop it, so he could save Shiro.

His friend was still somewhere in there, he had to be.

And they were going to get him back.


	6. Unexpected Aid

At first, Shiro didn't know what had happened. He'd woken up in the infirmary room - at least, he was pretty sure he had - and Keith had been there. He'd reassured Shiro that they were going to help him through this - the 'this' probably referring to the cycle of nightmares he'd been stuck in.

But - something - something had felt wrong in his head, like something was hiding, waiting to pounce. He'd tried to tell them, tried to let them know something didn't feel right, but then whatever it was _had_ pounced.

Mid-word, Shiro found himself - well, gone. Not dead, but outside of his body all the same. It felt a lot like when Zarkon had forced the Black Lion back under his control. Shiro had tried to stop it, but then was suddenly floating in space, falling without end, and the feeling was something he'd really hoped never to undergo again.

For one thing, it was disorienting as _hell_. For another thing, it was really, _really_ annoying to have it happen twice in as many days.

He tried to concentrate, to find out where he was now, and felt something familiar begin to take shape in his mind. It took him a second to realize what this familiar thing was - it was - it was the feeling he'd had the instant before -

Before he'd seen through Black's eyes, all that time ago when they'd been training. It was the feeling of connecting with his lion on a level so deep, it was as if their minds were one.

Suddenly his Lion was speaking to him, and Black - Black was using _words_.

 _My pilot,_ she purred. _I thought you were sleeping._

Wow. This was - this was new.

"I was," he said, still confused, but no longer scared, now that Black was here with him - wherever 'here' was.

"But - I don't know where I am now," he said, trying to look around. He couldn't see anything yet - maybe Black still had her eyes closed. "I think - I think the witch's toxin is - is alive, somehow - I don't know what to do, Black."

Black snarled then, deep rage and pain behind her words. _The witch took a Paladin of mine once. She twisted his heart, and in the end, he chose the dark._ A picture rose then, a mental image, shared between them, from Black to Shiro.

"Zarkon," Shiro said. "I thought - I thought so - Black, I'm so sorry he took you from me, I - I didn't mean to let him-"

Black growled then, but it was the sound of a deep, old pain. _I chose him long ago, for he had a strong will, and once, I thought that was enough._

The pain in her voice deepened, turned weary and worn. _But in the end, he wanted power - power at the cost of others. In the end, he chose the dark, and our bond was broken._

Shiro didn't know what to say to that. Her pain at that betrayal had stayed with her for over ten thousand years. He couldn't imagine living with that.

Black seemed to sense his thoughts. He felt her pain change into something kinder, stronger, gentler, as she spoke to him.

 _ **You**_ _are my pilot_ _now_ , she said, and pride entered into her voice. _You have a great heart, and your spirit is strong. Stronger then his. He fears it. I know this._

"Then - why - " Shiro began, but stopped. "He didn't take you from me, did he," he asked. "You were trying to keep me from _him_. That's why you - "

Black growled, and he sense her frustration and fury at the memory of Zarkon's attack _. It was all I could do for you,_ she said, and her next growl was one of fierce determination. _I lost my Paladin once to the witch. I will_ _ **never**_ _let it happen again._

"Black," Shiro said, "I - I'm honored by your trust - but the witch - Black, she infected my body with a toxin. I think it's - it's like the crystal that tried to take over the castle. I'm not sure - I'm not sure what's going to happen."

 _My pilot will not be taken over by the witch,_ Black stated. _He is too true a Paladin for that._

"I wouldn't be so sure," he said. His honesty surprised him, but then again, his Lion would be able to tell if he was lying, or putting on a brave face. "I - I'm broken, Black. I fought in the arena - I took _lives,_ Black, I _killed_ people-" He broke off for a moment, trying hard not to remember the blood, the pain, the fear. "I'm not - I'm not like the others," he finished. "I'm - I'm just not."

Black's voice rumbled again, but it was a strangely comforting sound. _My pilot was forced to do those things,_ she said. _You entered the arena to save another. Even when the witch gave you the power to destroy, and tried to break your will through pain, you refused to become her weapon. Instead, you did all in your power to protect those you could._ _ **That**_ _is why I chose you. For your strong will,_ _ **and**_ _your strong heart._

Shiro felt tears come to his eyes. Or at least, they would have, if he'd still been in his body. Then he felt Black's presence encircle his, as if she were a large cat, and trying to comfort him by wrapping around his legs. He thought about what she'd told him. "Black - where am I now?" he asked. "I feel - I feel like I'm near you."

 _My pilot has seen through my eyes_ , Black said. _He is_ _ **with**_ _me._

Shiro suddenly understood. "You're saying - I'm _with_ you? Like, I'm -"

Black made a rumbling sound, and he realized it was a chuckle. _Yes, my pilot_. Black replied. _Your spirit is one with mine now, here, in my bay._

"Wow," Shiro replied. "But - uh - what's - what's happening back in the infirmary?"

 _Your body has been tainted by the witch._ Black answered. _The toxin is - as you thought - alive. It knows time is against it. It takes action to save itself._

"What kind of -"Shiro broke off, feeling uneasy. "Could it hurt the others? Could it - infect them, somehow?"

 _Only if the others were to let it free,_ Black assured him. _And they are not that stupid._

"So - what can _we_ do?" Shiro asked, frustration in his voice. "We've got to do something, Black, I can't just stay here and let - whatever it is - control my body like that."

Black's next words seemed rather smug. _My pilot, I can take action on your behalf._

Shiro was confused for a moment, but then he understood. "You mean - you can - I mean _we_ can -"

 _My pilot, we are one. And at the moment, I mean that quite literally. I can take whatever action you wish of me._

Shiro felt the beginnings of a plan form in his mind. "Okay," he said, "Black, is there any way that you can get to the infirmary?"

In answer, Black opened her eyes.

Shiro felt surprised by her field of vision until he realized what she had done. She had shrunk in size until she was about the size of a large panther. In this shape, she could navigate the corridors and rooms of the castle with ease.

"Let's go," he said, and felt her paws pad softly on the floor as she begin to lope swiftly in the direction of the infirmary. "I just hope we get there before-"

 _Have no fear,_ Black told him. _I can help restore you to your normal state once we arrive. And your friends will help me accomplish this._

As Black left her hanger and bounded up a flight of stairs, Shiro asked a question that had just come to him.

"Black, why couldn't our minds connect earlier?" he asked. "It's - just - the toxin -"

Black snarled again, but not at him. _I could not reach my pilot earlier,_ she said. _I tried to reach you once the dreams began, but the witch's poison prevented it. You were locked into your worst nightmares, and I could not call out to you. Your friend Keith also attempted to break through the toxin's effects, but it only made things worse. I could not make you hear me until just now, when the toxin took over your body and ejected your mind. But in the end, you found me._

She took the last few steps of the staircase with an extra-high bound, landing and turning in one smooth gesture, heading down the final hall that would lead them to the infirmary. _But now that you have_ _ **me**_ _with you, we can destroy this toxin once and for all._

He felt Black's determination, her iron will. It was something they shared.

If a spirit could smile in anticipation, Shiro did. Because finally, the Black Paladin was going to destroy the witch's poison, once and for all.


	7. Recovery

Allura gasped. There was beyond anything she had expected.

The toxin - the toxin was more than just a poison. It was a living extension of the witch's will. And it had - it had -

The figure - she couldn't see anything of Shiro in it - looked over at her, and its mouth smiled a cold, icy smile.

"He trusted you, you know," it said. The voice cut like jagged glass and rusty wire. "It's your fault this happened. You told him it was _safe_."

The laugh that followed cut into her heart, and she felt her breath nearly stop with fear, dismay, and anguish.

It was true. He'd trusted her. And she'd failed him.

Suddenly Coran had pushed past her to stand next to Keith and Pidge, his face white, his voice asking them something, something about - a scanner - she couldn't make it out. Keith was handing him something, but she couldn't see anything clearly except the form on the bed. It was still smiling poisonously at her, and she felt her blood run cold.

Had the toxin already -

"Princess!" Coran said again, taking her by the shoulders and shaking her. She blinked and looked at him, feeling tears sliding down her face. "Princess, listen - the scanner says the toxin is almost completely neutralized - Princess, we have to prepare a second dose of the anti-toxin medicine, we have to administer it to him _now -_ "

The - thing - in the room laughed scornfully. "Do that," it sneered, "and I'll leave his mind shattered beyond recognition."

"We've got to hurry!" Coran urged her. "It's his only chance -"

She tried to re-arrange her thoughts, but it was so hard. Everything was spinning around her. "But - that could kill him," she said. "It - it's only supposed to be given once -"

The figure on the bed laughed again. "He's already as good as dead," it sneered. It smiled at them all again, and somehow the expression was very, very like the witch Haggar's. "His spirit was broken long before now. You can't do anything to help him."

Hunk suddenly found his voice. "Shut up," he snarled at it. "You're just some creepy, science-fiction, body-controlling toxin, what do you know about Shiro?!"

Lance nodded emphatically. "You can't even do his voice right!" he spat at it. "You're nothing but a copy! A sick, twisted, evil copy!"

Its eyebrows lifted at Lance's words, and it tilted its head to one side, dead eyes fixing on them all. Keith made a startled sound - almost of panic, Allura thought - and took a few more steps back from it, pulling Pidge with him, farther away from the figure on the bed.

"Oh, but I am so much _more_ than that," it hissed at them all. Its eyes began to glow a vicious yellow color, and the cybernetic arm began to glow once more, but with a stronger, blacker light than it ever had when Shiro used it.

Allura saw the restraints on the arm begin to glow, begin to melt.

Time seemed to stop. It was going to get free. It was going to kill them all.

Keith was suddenly beside her, and she looked at him, saw his pale face, and he was telling them all that they had to get out of here, that they had to move, _right now_.

Coran took hold of Allura's arm and dragged her back, out into the hallway, and Keith pushed Pidge out the door, but then he stopped, staying right in the middle of the doorway, turning his back to the rest of the team, and Hunk realized he was going to try and take on the thing in the middle of the room.

He didn't even have his bayard, but Keith was still blocking the door with his body, crouching as if preparing to grapple with the thing. He was going to try to buy them time.

"Go!" he snarled to Coran over his shoulder. "I'll hold it off - get them to safety -"

But suddenly there was a pounding of steps in the hallway behind them, a roaring sound, a familiar sound, and suddenly Black was leaping over all their heads, onto Keith's back. He staggered forward a step, more out of shock then from the force of the push, and Black leapt onto the cot.

Allura had never seen any of the Lions like this. Neither had Coran. Hunk and Lance's expressions were each a study in confusion and surprise. Pidge's jaw was hanging so low, one of the mice could have used it as a swing. Keith had straightened again, but he found himself frozen in place, half-in, half-out of the doorway. He couldn't take his eyes off the sight in front of him.

The Black Lion was standing over the figure on the cot, paws on its chest and torso, head lowered, yellow eyes burning, teeth bared. Even as the thing's cybernetic arm broke loose of its restraints, the Black Lion caught it in between its jaws.

The figure screamed then, surprise and rage mixed in equal measure.

"Impossible!" it snarled, trying to wrench its glowing arm free. "That's impossible!"

In answer, the Black Lion bit down - hard. There was a grating, wrenching sound, and the cybernetic arm broke, shattering into pieces. The thing screamed once more, and tried to rise again, but the Black Lion kept it still by using its full weight on its chest as leverage. Then the Black Lion and her Paladin snarled into the thing's face as one, and everyone in the room heard what they said.

What they heard was Shiro's voice, and he sounded angry. Angrier than they had ever heard him. His voice was low but clear, his words sharp, and the snarl coming from Black only added to his own.

"GET. OUT. OF. MY. HEAD."

The thing tried again to wrest free, but it was useless. The Black Lion had it firmly pinned.

 _Keep eye contact with it,_ Shiro heard Black say to him. _I can help you regain your natural form, but you must meet its gaze, my pilot._

The thing seemed to sense what Shiro was trying to do. It turned its face to one side, eyes tight shut.

Keith heard Shiro's voice issue again from the Lion. It was the voice of a leader, issuing a command in battle.

"Keith, make it look at me," he said. When Keith seemed to hesitate, Shiro added, "Do whatever you have to. _Hurry_ \- we're running out of time."

Keith came over to the head of the cot, and without any gentleness whatsoever, he pulled the thing's head back, one hand clutching its hair, the other its chin. It hissed and tried to pull away, but Keith forced it to face the Black Lion, and then said, "Now what?"

Coran was already coming to join Keith, Allura at his side. They had readied another, final dose of the anti-toxin.

 _Black?_ Shiro thought, still keeping his gaze fixed on the thing's face. _How should -_

 _The medicine first,_ Black replied. _It will open your eyes then, and I will do the rest. Be strong, my pilot. This will hurt._

 _When doesn't it?_ he thought back wryly, and he thought Black would have given him a sad smile if she could.

 _Tell them,_ she thought to him. _Quickly._

He told them what to do. They did it.

As the last of the anti-toxin entered its bloodstream, the thing opened its horrible, yellow eyes once more. It cried out in pain, and it sounded much more like Shiro now. Keith felt it try to twist desperately out of his grip, and he reminded himself this wasn't Shiro, it _wasn't_. So he forced its head to remain still, and then the Black Lion locked eyes with it. The thing screamed, the Black Lion roared, and then both fell silent, eyes locked together in an intense gaze.

Everyone stayed still for a minute, hardly breathing, unsure what to do next.

Suddenly the figure in the bed relaxed, head falling back onto the pillow. The Black Lion leapt off the bed, landing smoothly on the floor. Then it turned in a fluid motion and laid its head over Shiro's left hand, eyes intently gazing at his face. Keith took this to mean he could let go, so he did. He hurried over to the Black Lion's side, trying to get a clearer look at Shiro's face too.

It seemed - it seemed like the thing was gone. Whatever had been cold or malicious about the lines of the face had changed. It looked normal again. It looked like Shiro's face again.

Suddenly Shiro coughed, and his eyes opened. They were exhausted, drained - but they were his eyes. It was him. He'd defeated his enemy.

"Hey," he rasped.

Keith laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Hey," he said. He saw Allura hovering nearby, her face still stretched into an expression of concern. The other Paladins had crowded into the room, but they hadn't said anything yet. Coran held the scanner over Shiro's injuries, his face intent. The scanner let out a series of beeps, and Coran's face broke into a smile.

"It's gone!" he said, and his voice sounded more like it usually did - full of energy, vigor, and gladness. "The toxin's been completely neutralized!"

Lance, Hunk, and Pidge all burst into various whoops and cries of relief. Allura leaned back against the wall, her hands shaking again, her eyes closed. Coran tossed the scanner back onto the tray and started to undo the restraints immediately.

"I'm sorry, Shiro," he was saying as he worked, "but you were - you hurting yourself - and so we had to-"

"It's fine," Shiro said. "I'm just glad - no one else got hurt."

He looked over at Keith again, and he gave him a half-grin. "Thanks, Keith," he said. "For doing what you did."

Keith shrugged, feeling his face heat up. "It's nothing the others wouldn't have done."

"What?" Pidge asked, hurrying closer, Lance and Hunk right on her heels. They stayed out of Coran's way, but they got as close as they could to Shiro's side. "What did Keith do?"

As Coran finished freeing Shiro from the restraints, he explained Keith's original idea, and what had almost happened to him as a result.

"He was trying to bring Shiro out of the nightmares, but -"

Lance cut Coran off, his eyes going huge. "Whoa - wait - Keith! You almost _died_?"

" _Why_ do people keep getting on my back for that?!" Keith grumbled, but when he saw Hunk's horrified look and the way Pidge folded her arms and glared at him, he sighed. "Yeah, I know," he said. "It was stupid."

"No it wasn't," Allura said. She'd sunk onto a chair and was now holding her face in her hands, and her entire body was shaking with exhaustion and relief. "It wasn't stupid, Keith, but it was - it was dangerous." Her voice grew shakier with each word, and finally she raised her head to look at them all, and her eyes were wet.

"If anyone was stupid tonight, it was me," she said. "Shiro, I'm so sorry - I didn't know - I didn't realize - the toxin, it was so much more dangerous than I thought - I'm so _sorry_ , Shiro - "

Lance blinked. Allura was _crying_. Really, really crying. He exchanged concerned looks with Hunk. He wanted to make a joke, to maybe help Allura feel better, but his friend shook his head. _Not now, buddy. Not a good time._ So Lance turned back to look at Allura again, biting his lip and feeling helpless.

Pidge put a hand on Allura's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault," she said. "None of us could have guessed this would happen."

The mice in Pidge's pockets climbed out of their comfortable resting place, ran down her arm, and tumbled onto Allura's shoulder, giving comforting squeaks and trying to nuzzle her chin. One rubbed its back along one tear-streaked cheek, as if trying to say, "It's all right, it's not your fault, don't cry."

"Pidge is right," Shiro said. "There was no way we could have known this would happen."

"But-" Allura said, and her voice was almost too shaky to hear. "But - Shiro-"

"No." Shiro said. "You can't blame yourself." He held her gaze for a moment, then Coran's, then the teams'. "None of you can."

Coran shook his head. "Still giving orders, eh?" He said, trying not to smile. Shiro felt his own mouth stretch into a smile.

"Consider it a strong suggestion," he said, closing his eyes again. He'd felt dizzy for a moment there. He guessed it was safe to say this entire experience had taken a lot out of him.

"Well, let's get you to a healing pod," Coran said briskly. "By the time you're out of there, I plan to have everything ship-shape around here."

"Does this mean you're going to prepare one of your health dishes?" Shiro asked, but his voice was fading. He was almost asleep again, and Coran meant to get him into the pod before that happened.

"Yes, _all_ of them," Coran said brightly, gesturing for the others to come help him with the cot. Keith and he took the right side, Lance and Hunk the left, Allura took the head bar, and Pidge the final bar. Between the six of them, they started taking him to a nearby healing pod. The Black Lion followed them, tail swishing back and forth, carrying the mice on her back.

As they walked, Coran continued listing the dishes he would prepare. As they reached the healing pod room, and he had reached, "…and fresh health cubes, diced into perfection, sauced with-" Shiro cut him off, opening one eye as they settled him into the pod. "Coran, stop it. I won't want to wake up if you keep talking about that stuff-"

But the ghost of the smile that crossed his face took any sting out of the words. Then his gaze slid to the rest of the team, and to Allura, and finally to Black. "Thanks, everyone…for everything…"

His eyes slid shut, and Coran activated the healing cycle. The pod frosted over, and they could see that he was finally resting peacefully. With a satisfied purring sound, Black took up watch at the foot of the healing pod, settling down into a comfortable position, her tail twitching once as she laid her head on her paws and closed her eyes. The mice scampered down from her back and scurried over to Allura, who had laid a hand on the transparent cover of the healing pod. It was some time before she broke the silence.

"You should all get some rest," she said. "I'll stay here."

"Screw that," Keith said. "I'm staying too."

"I second that notion," Pidge said immediately.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Lance, "As if Hunk and I would go _anywhere_ other than here. I mean, come on, seriously, Allura? We're a team - we stick together."

"In fact -" Hunk said, "You and Coran need sleep more than any of us do. Come on, I'll make you guys some space hot cocoa and we'll bring your stuff out here. Pidge, Keith, can you go grab our stuff from the lounge? We can all camp out here."

"That's a great idea!" Lance said. "I'll start moving some of this furniture around, so we can be closer to each other."

"Oh joy," Keith grumbled as he left the room, but it was under his breath, so only Pidge heard him.

As the other Paladins scattered to accomplish their tasks, Coran made as if to rise from his chair to help Lance.

"Nope, nope, no you don't," Lance said, pushing him back into a chair. "You've been awake for - what, how long?"

Coran seemed to think for a moment, blinked wearily, then shrugged in an exhausted manner. "I can't remember."

Lance huffed, shaking his head as he headed towards the furniture he planned to move. "I thought so. And Allura - you look like you're about to fall over. You stay seated, both of you. I can handle this."As he began to pull and push a nearby sofa towards the center of the room, he decided they could use some humorous distraction from the last few hours. So, as he pushed the first sofa into position, he puffed out his chest in an exaggerated sort of way.

"After all, I am the most talented, brilliant, and handsome pilot of them all," he said, watching them both from the corner of his eye. "And thus, no one can resist my irresistible charms."

Pidge, coming into the room at that moment with her arms full of blankets and pillows, took that golden opportunity to send a pillow sailing directly into Lance's face. He sputtered, lost his balance, and fell backwards onto his butt. She let out a chuckle as she dumped her first armful of blankets and pillows onto the floor and headed back out towards the lounge to get some more.

Allura couldn't help smiling at Lance's expression. He shook his head to clear it and grinned back at her, getting to his feet again. "There's that smile," he said, his voice warm and happy. He continued moving furniture, continuing to talk as he did so. "All right, Coran, Allura, here's how sleepovers work - you find a comfortable spot, claim it for your own, and fall asleep. You two are almost dead on your feet, so we'll forgo the customary pillow fight for another time."

Coran's head had nodded onto his chest, but he raised it with an effort. "A - pillow - fight?" he asked sleepily. Lance nodded, finishing his arrangement of the furniture. Keith and Pidge had brought over the last of the pillows and blankets, and he started to help them distribute them evenly.

"It's when you take one of these -" he grabbed a fluffy pillow, and hefted it at Keith's back, "-and do - _this_!"

A thwap sounded, then a laugh from Pidge, followed by a growl from Keith.

" _Usually_ ," the Red Paladin growled, "I'd return fire. It's the whole point of a pillow _fight_." He threw blankets onto the last couch and glared at Lance. "But as Lance said - you two are exhausted. So I'm going to be very _mature_ and _ignore_ that completely underhanded attack from behind - for now."

Lance grinned cheerily at him. "Hey, man, when these two wake up rested, you get to take the first shot at me, okay?" he said, reaching over to pat Keith on the arm. "No hard feelings, right?"

Keith turned away before his half-smile could be seen. "Nah, I'll bide my time." he said. "I'll come at you when you least expect it."

Lance laughed, then gulped. "Aha, ah-haha, Keith, very funny. But really, no hard feelings, right? Right?"

Just then, Hunk returned, carrying a tray with mugs full of 'space hot .', and handed them out to everyone. Coran accepted his and found it delicious. Hunk had added something spicy - he called it 'something like we have at home - Cinn - a - min', and it added a lot to the flavor. Coran smiled to himself. He was glad Hunk enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen.

They sat in a half-circle of various couches, pillows, and blankets, all of them warm and comfortable, sipping their drinks, in companionable silence. Allura was the first one to doze off. Her mug would have tumbled to the floor if the mice hadn't steadied it time, and Pidge leaned over, took the mug from Allura's slackening grip, and placed it on a nearby side table. Then she helped Allura lie down onto some soft pillows, and the Princess of Altea sighed contentedly as she drifted off to sleep. The mice soon followed her example, curled into a tired but cozy heap together in the crook of her elbow.

Coran was the next one to fall asleep. His head nodded forward onto his chest, and Hunk grabbed the mug from his suddenly slack fingers. Lance reached over and helped Hunk ease the Altean courtier to his side, where he proceeded to snore gently. The mouse that had been in his jacket pocket jumped out and scurried to join its friends, snuggling into the very bottom of the cozy mouse pile.

Keith, sitting cross-legged on the floor, his back against one of the walls, winced slightly at Coran's snores, but felt a half-smile creep back onto his face. It wasn't like Coran was snoring on purpose. The poor guy was exhausted. Anyway, someone had to keep watch, and might as well be Keith.

Looking around at the others, he saw that Pidge and Lance had also drifted off to sleep. Well, he didn't mind taking the first watch.

"Hey, Keith." he heard Hunk whisper. Hunk adjusted his position so he was sitting up and facing Keith, the blankets sliding slightly off his big, brawny shoulders. Close beside him, almost completely leaning against him, one on each side, Lance and Pidge were both breathing softly and evenly.

Oh, right, Hunk was awake too. Guess he'd have company, then.

"Yeah?" he asked, and Hunk let out a sleepy yawn before answering.

"I just - well, dude, I just wanted to say that I'm really glad you're okay," he said. "I didn't get a chance to tell you - before - with everything being so crazy, but - uh - you took on _Zarkon_ , dude. And - and - we - we were all really glad you came out all right."

Keith felt something in his throat tighten. He hadn't realized the rest of the team had known about that. The fury of battle had completely overtaken him and driven it from his mind. Then again, they must have heard most of that fight over their comms.

"Thanks, Hunk," he said. "I - uh - I -"

"You don't have to answer, dude," Hunk said, in a friendly way. "I know it's hard for you - I mean, I know you're not really someone who says stuff."

Keith blinked. "No, not really," he agreed, feeling his mouth stretch into a smile again. "But…sometimes I wish I could."

Hunk almost shrugged, but looked down and realized he'd dislodge either Lance or Pidge, so he settled for giving Keith another friendly smile as he sat back again, getting into a more comfortable position.

"Well, that's the nice thing about families," he said. "Sometimes they know what you mean without you needing to say anything."

With that, he leaned back and looked up at the ceiling far above them. There were some gentle lights up there, pulsing and thrumming in a gentle and soothing rhythm. Without meaning to, Hunk closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Once he was sure Hunk's eyes were closed, Keith quickly brushed the back of his hand across his eyes.

It had been a long time since he'd felt this way about people. He hadn't been sure how to say it, or how to show it. But maybe they already knew.

There was a good chance that tomorrow, they'd all wake up and find themselves in the middle of another adventure. Well, he was glad he could face whatever came with them at his side.

He smiled again to himself. Well, he knew one thing for certain that would happen tomorrow. Lance was going to get a pillow right in the face as a wake up call. Followed by at least three more, rapid fire style.

That's what you got for being family.


	8. Author's Note

Greetings, reader! Thank you for clicking on this story! :D

This story is part of a series, but it can be read on its own.

If you're new to these stories, or if you're wondering what order they go in, here's the order of my 'Lost Paladins' series:

1) Lost Paladins

2) Fever Dreams

3) Team Building Exercises

4) Pidge one-shot

5) Red Means Blood

6) Chocolate Chip Cookies

7) Quality Time (references my fic 'You Can't Take the Sky From Me')

8) Broken Barriers

9) On the Edge

10) Scavenger Hunt

11) Broken Paladins

12) Cabin Fever

and the newest two that I have just posted:

13) Adventures in Babysitting

14) Family Is More Than Blood

Yup...you can tell I really love the Voltron: Legendary Defender show, huh? :D

But please, feel free to read this story on its own merit if you like - I love it when people read and review my stories! :D :D

The stories in this series do build on each other, so it may make a bit more sense if you read the stories in the order listed above. I would hate for you to feel lost or confused. :-)

There should be some more stories coming - I never thought I'd write this many, but all of the encouragement and support from you wonderful readers led to _everything_ after 'Lost Paladins'. :D :D Your reviews and encouragement are the life-blood that help me continue to write this series. Thank you!

As always, reviews help me know what people enjoyed/thought was interesting - your feedback helps this writer stay encouraged and get more ideas! It really makes my day to read what people thought/enjoyed - and feel free to PM me if you like! :D :D

Happy Reading!


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